Seal-press



A. M. WILLARD.

SEAL PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.24. 1919.

Patented July 13, 1920 hmgwae 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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SEAL PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.24. I'9I9.

' Patentefi July 13, 1920.

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Specification oi Letters Patent.

Pateluted July 113, lltlfillt Application tiled March all, 1919. Serial 33o. $84,711,

may he applied to paper, and it has for its ob ect to provide a construction of press 3 be of lighter construction and .a particularly avoid the use of the heavy plunger and its hearing as heretofore employed in such presses; also to provide a construction in which the member which carries the movable die will be presented-l te its g die with great accuracy and yet with sutncient freedom of yielding that will render the die sell leveling with respect to any irregularity in the thiclrnessot the material on which the imprint is being made. A further object is to provide a construction oi seal press that will adapt the press to be made of stamped or pressed metal.

To these ends, one feature of the present invention consists in mounting the movable die of a seal press upon a substantially straight, plate-spring radius-arm supported upon the bed of the press in a manner to assume substantial parallelism throughout when the dies are impressing, and at a point suliiciently remote from the impression area to enable the movable die to normally approach its mating die in a position substantially parallel thereto; the radius-arm being rigid in all directions in a plane perpendicular to the direction of its impressing movement so that accurate registry of the two dies is insured but being transversely and torsionally resilient in directions transverse to its plane so that the moving die may yield sufiiciently to compensate for any unevennessin the thickness of the material on which the impression is to be made, for instance, such as would develop from-partial insertion of a paper, or the insertion of a paper that is unequally supported by papers beneath it; the radius-arm being provided with an elevated boss centered above its impression die, and upon which the imprinting pressure is centrally imposed so as to evenly distribute such pressure at different circumferential points on the die, notwithstanding s'uch unevenness, leaving the movable die free to compensate therefor;

the imprinting pressure being developed by a cam lever supported between two spaced cheeks or plates which constitute the aw oi the press, and which are spaced apart in a manner to receive the spring-plate radiusarm between them and accurately define its position against lateral displacement relatively the die carried by hed of the press.

Y Another feature of the invention consists in constructing the press with a base struclr up from sheet metal with a heel surrounded by a deep i ironing supporting flange to produce a rigid support r tor the working parts, with a hollow underside, and closing the underside hy means of a loottom held in place by resilient tangs struck from the metal of the bottom plate and fitting snugly within the wall afforded by the flange of the base; also a j aw mounted upon one end of the base and extending upwardly and forwardly therefrom to the opposite end, with space beneath it to receive the moving die and its supporting 1 radius arm and provide for the introduction of the paper to be impressed, said jaw being formed of sheet metal bent into two parallel side arms, connected at the upper forward end by a spacing web, and having their lower rear ends seated upon the base and held thereto by integral tongues of metal passing through the platen of the base, lapped beneath it, and securely riveted to the base; also an operating lever tulcrumed between the upper forward ends of the arms, working in the slot provided between them, and having a carnming offset carrying an anti-friction roll which acts upon the movable die to depress it, the operating lever being struck up from sheet metal with a web portion, and a pair of stiffening flanges which receive its fulcrum point and also the anti-friction roller; and said lever carrying at its fulcrum-end a dog movable into position which will cause it to abut against the connecting bar of the jaw and hold the lever in position to keep the die depressed when the press is not in use.

The invention will be fully understood upon reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalsection and Fig. 2 a side elevation of a seal press embodying the several features of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View illustrattill - ing the anchorage of the jaw upon the base fening andsupporting flange 1 surrounding it and providing a hollow underside to accommodate connecting means employed for mounting parts on the base. The bottom of the base is closed by a removable plate 2, which is preferably of metal and held in place by tangs 2? struck up from the body of the closure plate and standing in position to fit within the .flange 1 with suflicient snugness to hold-the plate in position.

3 represents the jaw of-the press, which is preferably of sheet metal, bent to provide a pair of arms 3 spacedapart (see Fig. 6) to provide a slot between them, and con nected together at their upper forward ends by means of the cross bar 3", while their rear lower ends rest squarely upon the base 1 and are held thereto by means of anchoring tongues 3 whichpass through slots in the base 1 and also through the filler plate 1 beneath which the tongues are folded one upon the otheras shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and then secured by a rivet passing through the bed of the base, the fill'er plate, and the two tongues as shown. By means of this connection with the base and the cross bar at their outer ends, the arms are accurately spaced apart and adapted to serve as cheeks or guide plates for parts mounted between them. The anchoring tongues 3 are located well forward of the longitudinally extended bearing which the arms of the jaw have upon the base, in order to bring them as near as practicable to the upward stress exerted on the free end of the jaw, and in order to leave the rear heel of the jaw sufliciently offset to resist upward turning movement, which action the press imposes on the jaw.

Mounted upon the base 1 and fitting accurately between the side arms 3 is a radius arm a, preferably constructed of a flexible plate, depending upon its own resiliency for its freedom to swing vertically, and rigidly held to the bed at its rear end, as, for instance, by securing it upon the spacing block 4: by means of the bolt 42 passing through the arm, spacing block, and base. As shown in Fig. 5, the spring plate radius arm 4 has straight parallel sides, and as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, this plate fits accurately between the parallel sides of the arms 3; while as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the longitudinal dimension of the portion so fittlng between the arms constitutes a considerable proportion of the length of the radius arm. Hence, the radius arm is secured against lateral displacement, and the die carried thereby is kept in registry transversely of the bed by means of the arms 3*, and this greatly facilitates accurate assembly. of the parts and maintaining proper registry after they are assembled. At the forward end said radius arm carries a boss 5 formed with a socket 5 to receive the shank 6 of the movable die 6. As herein shown, the boss 5 is constructed of a separate piece shouldered upon the n free end of the radius arm 4, and having a reduced lower portion extended through and riveted to the arm as at 5 the radius arm is formed with a circular disk-like, enlargement (see Figs. 5 and 5 to receive the boss 5 and the movable die 6, and this shape together with the cylindrical The free end of I form of the shank and socket adapt the movable die to be assembled with the radius arm with any desired presentation of the printing characters. Moreover, this circular enlargement of the radius arm isdished or concaved so that when the die is assembled the outer portion of the enlargement will seat upon the die first, and when the disklike enlargement of the arm is flattened, as it will be by firmly pressing it against the die and in which form it will be retained by the snug fit of the shank of the die in the socket, this outer bearing edge will always remain under suflicient pressure, due to the resillency of the met-a1 of the disk, to insure afirm frictional hold at a suficient distance from the center to prevent any turning displacement of the die in the arm.

Mounted between the upper forward ends of the side arms 3 of the jaw 3 is an operat- 'ing lever 7, also preferably pressed from sheet metal a manner to'form vertical flanges 7 with a connecting web 7", said lever being fulcrumed upon a pintle 8 passing through the forward end of its flanges 7 and having camming oflsets 7 that receive the roller 9 between them and thereby adapt the lever to develop a downward and forward moment of the camming projection through a relatively short radius from the fulcrum 8 by hand pressure applied at the end .of the relatively long radius afforded by the lever 7, and thereby impart to the above-described method of imposing thrust upon the boss 5.

lln order to hold the lever in depressed position when the press is not in use, a locking dog 10 is fulcr'umed at 1O between the flanges 7 of the lever 't' at a point suficiently above the fulcrum 8 to develop a distinct forward movement of the dog 10 from the upward swinging of the lever 7, and this dog is provided with a shoulder 10 which encounters the crossbar 3 of the jaw 3 when ever the dog is permitted to drop into the position shown in Fig. 1. Through means of a linger-piece 10 on the dog 10 the forward end of the dog may be raised to position above the cross bar 3 as suggested in v Fig. 2, and so leave the lever free to swing upwardly. lt will be noted that the journal 9* of the roller 9 is sutiiciently in rear of the fulcrum 8, even when the lever is depressed to its lower limit, to develop an upward moment in the lever from the reaction of the spring radius arm 4;, so the lever will be maintained in the position shown in Fig. 2 by the spring 4t when freed from hand pressure and the detaining 10 is released.

While the design selected for illustration is that of a seal suitable for resting upon a support, it is obvious that the several features' of the invention are equally applicable to the so-called hand seal, in which the aw as well as the operating lever is grasped in developing the impressing thrust.

@bviously, the spacing bloclr 43 is not indispensable to the mounting of the flexible radius arm 4'; the latter may by proper deflection, be made to seat directly upon the base 1, and have its outer free end in position to present the die 6 in proper relation to the mating die. lit is to be noted that the radius arm is deflected, preferably near its attaching disk, in order to compensate for any angular position which it has reached by the time the diescome together, and so insure normal parallelism between the faces of the meeting dies.

ll claim:

1. In a seal press, a rigid bed, a stationary d1e mounted on said bed, a movable die coacting with said stationary die, a transversely flexible, but horizontally rigid and longitudinally inextensible, spring plate carrying said movable die at one end thereof,

means clamping the face of said plate at the other end thereof, rigidly to the bed, and leaving the plate free to act as a radius arm by its inherent transverse flexibility, but restricting such radius arm action to the portion of said plate outside of its anchorage upon the bed, and means for pressing the dies together.

2. In a seal press, a radius arm carrying a socket at its free end and having the metal surrounding said socket resilient and normally concaved, and a die mounted "in said socket and seated against said concaved face; the metal of the free end of the arm standing under strains of flexure and maintaining contact with the dieby its resiliency.

3.111 a seal press, the combination of a bed carrying a fixed die, a jaw arising from said bed, a radius arm comprising a substantially straight spring-plate carrying a movable die in position to register with the lined die and firmly anchored at its end-remote from the dies, a raised boss centered above the movable die on the radius arm, and an operating lever mounted in the jaw and bearing centrally upon said boss; the radius arm having edgewis'e rigidity with torsional as well as vertical transverse re siliency.

l. ln a seal press, the combination. of a bed carrying a fined die, a jaw arising therefrom, an operating cam lever mounted in said jaw, and a radius comprising a spring plate carrying a movable die at one end, firmly anchored at its opposite end, adapted to receive the cam lever over said movable die; said radius arm having a con caved under face throu h which. it receives the movable die.

5.; In a seal press, the combination of a bed carrying a tired die, a jaw arising therefrom, an operating cam lever mounted in said jaw, and a radius arm comprising spring-plate carrying a movable die at one end, firmly anchored atits opposite end, and

adapted to receive the cam lever over said movable die; said radius arm having a con caved under face through which it receives the movable die, and a pressure boss centered above the concave face of the radius arm and receiving the cam lever.

6. in a seal press, in combination with a jaw member and an operating-lever member, a detaining dog carried by one of said members in position to abut against the other of said members and oppose opening movement of the lever.

7. In a seal press, a jaw, an operating lever fulcrumed on the jaw, and a detaining dog carried by the lever in position to abut against the aw and resist opening movement of the lever. a

8. In a seal press, the combination of a jaw comprising a pair of spaced arms connected by a crbss bar, an operating lever fulcrumed between the spaced arms adjacent the cross bar, and a detaining dog carried by the lever in position to abut against the cross bar and resist opening movement of the which it to encounter the crossbar,

and sufliciently above the lever fulcrum to develop a forward moment across the cross bar. 7

10. In a seal press, in combination with a jaw member and an operating-lever member, a detaining dog carried by one of said members in position to abut against theother of said members and oppose opening movement of the lever; said dog having a finger piecethrough which to press it out of dogging position.

11. In a seal press, a jaw, an operating-lever fulcrumed on the jaw, and a detaining dog carried by the lever in position to abut against the jaw and resist opening movement of the lever; said dog having a fingerpiece for lifting it out of engagement with the cross bar, and which rests upon the cross bar to support the dog in engagement with the cross bar.

12. In a seal press, the combination of a base, a jaw arising from said base and comprising a pair of spaced arms individually anchored to the base at their lower ends and spaced apart thereby, and having a connecting and spacing cross bar, and impression and operating mechanism mounted between and guided in their movements by said arms.

13. In a seal press, a base, a jaw arising from said base and extending forwardly over the same, an operating lever fulcrumed at the forward end of the jaw, and impression dies controlled by said lever; said jaw comprising a pair of spaced plates each having a longitudinally elongated seat upon the base at the lower rear end of the jaw and having at the forward portion of its said seat tongues projected through the base and folded upon the underside of the latter to hold the jaw down upon the base; said tongues being carried by the forward 'portions of the seats of the respective arms of the jaw and leaving the rear portions of said seats extending rearwar'dly therefrom to resist the lifting force exerted by the lever at the forward end of the jaw.

Sfiifigned at Chicago, Illinois, this 21st day of arch, 1919. i I

- ARTHUR M. WILLARD. 

